Race to the Dragon Eye
by LBIGreyhound13
Summary: Takes place after RTTE season 2 finale "Maces and Talons, Part 2." After Viggo and the Dragon Hunters managed to grab the Dragon Eye, Hiccup and Toothless set out to make things right once and for all...no matter what it takes.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** Hello, hello, friends! Welcome to my first HTTYD multi-chap fanfic! I've written quite a few oneshots for HTTYD, and I really wanted to do a multi-chap fanfic. So when _Race to the Edge_ rolled around, I finally got the inspiration I needed to write one big story! This fanfic takes place right after the RTTE season 2 finale, "Maces and Talons, Part 2," so if you haven't seen RTTE, beware of spoilers! I'll try to update this weekly along with my second ROTG fanfic so that both stories get enough attention. So without further ado, here is _Race to the Dragon Eye_!

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to the** _ **How to Train Your Dragon**_ **franchise.**

* * *

Chapter 1

Tension was as clear as the night sky as the Dragon Riders flew from Viggo Grimborn's base back to the Dragon's Edge. All that could be heard was the rolling of the waves in the vast ocean down below and the flapping wings of the six respective dragons. No one, not even Snotlout and the twins dared to speak as they followed their leader, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third and his Night Fury, Toothless back to their base. Although, not even returning to the base was enough to make Hiccup feel better in the slightest, especially not after what they just went through tonight. It took everything Hiccup had in him not to let out another ear-piercing scream as he closed his eyes tightly bracing himself for the memories that flooded through his mind, especially Viggo's parting words when he and Toothless were paralyzed by the Flightmare's mist.

" _You and your Night Fury played right into my hands. To be honest, I expected more. Hiccup Haddock the Third, I've enjoyed our time together. I do truly hope we are able to compete again."_

With those parting words, the leader of the Dragon Hunters walked off…with the Dragon Eye leaving the teen and his dragon frozen in place. To say that it wasn't the proudest moment of Hiccup Haddock's young life was an understatement. He could not believe that he let Viggo get away with the Dragon Eye, the mysterious object he and Toothless found on the mysterious Reaper. They tried so hard for the past several months doing whatever they could to protect it from Dagur and the Berserkers, but unfortunately, once Dagur made an alliance with Ryker and the Dragon Hunters, protecting the Dragon Eye became far more difficult.

Then, once Viggo came out of the shadows, all their hard work suddenly became all for nothing, and it was all Hiccup's fault…at least that was what the Heir of Berk believed. Lately, it seemed as though that was all he was doing…making some huge mistakes that turned out to be very costly. He tried to outsmart Viggo, but in the end, _Viggo_ outsmarted _him_. However, there was still one thing he spent almost the entire ride home to the Edge trying to figure out. What exactly did Viggo plan to do with the Dragon Eye? His mind flashed back to when he and Astrid spoke before they took off as he held the Viking King figurine from the Maces and Talons game.

Astrid pointed out that even though the Dragon Eye was in Viggo's clutches, it was useless without the Snow Wraith's tooth as the key. However, that still did nothing to make Hiccup feel better. Viggo certainly wouldn't have taken the Dragon Eye if there were no way to open it. If it was so useless now, and he knew it, why would he still want it? It didn't make any sense, but before Hiccup could answer his own question, the Dragon's Edge suddenly appeared on the horizon. They were finally home, but Hiccup still wasn't the slightest bit relieved as Toothless and the other dragons landed. The leader of the Dragon Riders surveyed the damage…done by the Dragon Hunters.

"Umm…Hiccup?" Fishlegs finally spoke up as Meatlug walked up to Toothless. "I-I know this wasn't a good night for us, but…" he gestured to the trashed base.

"I know, Fishlegs," Hiccup said giving his friend a small smile. He then turned to the other riders who were watching him and Fishlegs. "Alright, gang, let's just do as much cleaning as we can tonight and do the rest tomorrow."

For what was probably the first time ever, Snotlout and the twins didn't bother to complain. Whether it was because they didn't want to anger Hiccup further or because they were too exhausted, everyone immediately went to work around their respective huts, and soon enough, they made some progress in the cleanup. The gang said their good nights to each other and their dragons as they locked them up silently agreeing to talk about their latest defeat and their potential next move. Finally, Astrid was left alone with Stormfly in her pen.

The young warrior locked the door as she watched the Deadly Nadder settle down for a good night's sleep. "Get some sleep, girl," Astrid whispered to her dragon. "You had a long day."

As soon as Stormfly was fast asleep, Astrid finally brought herself to leaving her best friend in the pen. Ever since Ryker kidnapped her dragon, Astrid had done whatever she could to make sure her beloved Deadly Nadder never left her sight. When Astrid left the pen, she took one look at the full moon over the ocean one last time before moving to take the zip line back to her hut, but before she could do anything, she noticed something at Hiccup's hut. There was the Pride of Berk sitting on the platform outside his hut with Toothless. Just from the way he was sitting, Astrid could tell that he was still not completely over what happened tonight with Viggo, and honestly, Astrid couldn't blame him. She grabbed the nearest zip line and flew down to the boy and his dragon.

Once Astrid landed on the platform, Toothless perked up and scurried over to the young woman, who laughed and gently pet the Night Fury on the cheek.

"Good to see you, too, Toothless," she said. She then stopped once her blue eyes went to the hunched figure of Hiccup. As soon as she saw him, Astrid gave the Night Fury one last smile before walking over to her friend. "Is this spot taken?" she asked gesturing to a spot on the platform.

Hiccup answered by simply shaking his head.

Astrid furrowed her eyebrows together in concern, but she finally sat down next to Hiccup. "I meant what I said before," she said as soon as she was settled. "That Dragon Eye is completely useless without the key. There's nothing Viggo can do with it."

"I know, Astrid," Hiccup replied looking at the Snow Wraith tooth in his hand, "but I can't help but have this feeling that what happened tonight was the biggest mistake I ever made. There's no way Viggo would just take the Dragon Eye knowing that there was no way in Helheim to activate it. No…he knows something…something we don't about that thing. We just need to figure out what it is."

Astrid couldn't help but sigh and shake her head. If there was anything she knew about Hiccup, it was that once he knew he made a mistake or something went wrong on his watch, he would stop at nothing to set things right. That was definitely what he was already trying to do now. Nothing was going to stop him until the Dragon Eye was back in his hands.

"And if there is something, _we_ will figure it out… _together_ ," Astrid finally said. "For now, let's just assume that Viggo just has a useless Dragon Eye and agree to hang back here, to get some rest, and to regroup in the morning."

Hiccup let Astrid's words sink in as he looked out on the ocean glowing under the full moon. He wanted nothing more than to hop on Toothless and set off to find Viggo…to undo his mistakes, but Astrid was right. They just lost the Dragon Eye to the Dragon Hunters, and it was going to take everything they had to get it back and to take out Viggo and the other hunters. All of them going after the same guys who just defeated them could get one or all of them killed…which was something that Hiccup wasn't willing to risk. Astrid had a valid point. They all went through quite a long battle, and they needed some rest before going after Viggo again. They were going to need all their strength if they were planning to go after the Dragon Eye again. The Heir of Berk finally looked Astrid in the eye.

"You're right," he finally said. "We can't afford any more mistakes with these guys. At first light, we can meet in the clubhouse to regroup."

Astrid smiled relieved that she was able to get through to him, and with a reassuring squeeze on his shoulder, she stood up and moved to get to her own hut leaving Hiccup alone with Toothless.

After a few more moments of looking out on the ocean, Hiccup finally sighed as he stood up and looked at the Night Fury, who stared at him with a little concern. The Dragon Trainer couldn't help but remember Toothless sounding very worried about his best friend while listening to him scream to high Valhalla after Viggo escaped. Hiccup gave his dragon a small reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, bud," Hiccup finally said patting Toothless on the head before leading him into the hut. "I'm okay, really. Let's just get some sleep. We're going to have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Toothless crooned happily as he followed Hiccup into their makeshift home. Little did they know that Astrid was watching them from her own hut clearly making sure Hiccup didn't try anything to fix the whole thing with the Dragon Hunters. When she saw them completely disappear into their hut, she smiled to herself relieved that Hiccup might've listened to her advice after all instead of putting himself in grave danger. With that relief, she walked into her hut to get some sleep herself.

* * *

" _You and your Night Fury played right into my hands. I expected more."_

" _But, Maces and Talons was designed to test the abilities and decision-making expertise of future chiefs in the heat of battle."_

" _He's daring me to play."_

" _I do truly hope we are able to compete again."_

" _How did I not see that?!"_

" _What have I done?"_

" _You see that? The future chief is a coward."_

" _I messed up. I really messed up, and I'm not sure how to fix it."_

" _Yeah, well, guess what, I'm not perfect."_

Hiccup growled under his breath as he closed his eyes really tightly and clutched his ears…almost as if that would stop the voices in his head. However, no matter how hard he tried, it didn't work. The voices just continued to replay over and over again in his head giving him a splitting headache. All the mistakes, especially the huge loss from tonight, came back in full force all at once, and he couldn't take it anymore. He wasn't sure how long this has been keeping him up, but from what he could tell from opening his eye a crack, it had been a few hours since he decided to get to bed. The future chief of Berk growled again as he sat up in his bed. If there was one thing he knew for sure, there was no way he was getting to sleep tonight. He couldn't afford to sleep now. This was his mistake, and his alone. The last thing he wanted was to put the other riders in harm's way because of his messes, which was exactly why he needed to take care of this…tonight.

The leader of the Dragon Riders looked up at the Night Fury sleeping on the stone slab. He hated the idea of waking the sleeping dragon, but it had to be done. Hiccup then stood up and walked over to his best friend.

"Toothless," Hiccup said gently putting Toothless on the head. "Toothless, wake up, bud."

The Night Fury slowly opened his eyes and stared at Hiccup crooning in confusion.

"Sorry to wake you, bud," Hiccup said scratching him on the chin, "but we can't sleep tonight. We got to track down Viggo and get back that Dragon Eye."

Toothless widened his black eyes slightly before growling in determination at the mention of the leader of the Dragon Hunters.

Hiccup couldn't help but smile as he patted his Night Fury. "Thanks, bud," he said. "I like the determination. Come on, let's get your armor on and get moving."

As soon as the Heir of Berk got the Gronkle iron armor on his Night Fury, the two of them ran out to the platform. As soon as Toothless got out, he looked around expecting to see the other dragons and their humans waiting for him and Hiccup. However, when he saw that it was only him and Hiccup. Toothless crooned in concern. If they were going after Viggo, where were Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and the other dragons?

Hiccup came out of the hut with his shield ready to face the Dragon Hunters, but when he noticed the concerned look on his best friend's face, he sighed knowing all too well what Toothless was thinking. So he knelt down next to the Night Fury wrapping his arm around Toothless' neck.

"Sorry, buddy, but it's just you and me tonight," Hiccup said smiling. "It's my fault that Viggo has the Dragon Eye, and I refuse to put the other riders and dragons in danger."

Toothless hesitated for a moment but realized that Hiccup did have a valid point and that there would be no way to convince him otherwise. So, he crouched down allowing Hiccup to mount him. As soon as the boy's prosthetic leg clicked into the stirrup, the Night Fury took off into the night sky.

"Let's head for Viggo's base, bud," Hiccup told him as soon as they were in the air. "That was where we last saw them."

Toothless crooned in reply and turned in the direction toward the Dragon Hunters' island.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Well there's Chapter 1 for you guys! Hope you enjoyed it! Stay tuned for Chapter 2! Don't forget to leave a review! Thanks a lot, guys!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Hello, fellow HTTYD fans! I have returned with Chapter 2 of _Race to the Dragon Eye_! Sorry, this took so long to update. School and life take over pretty easily. But no worries, I always try to update as soon as I can. Before I get to the replies, I just wanted to say thank you for all of the great feedback I got so far on this! I'm really glad you guys liked the first chapter so far and hope you continue to enjoy it! Now…REVIEW REPLIES!

 **Guest: Well, if I told you that, it would ruin the surprise wouldn't it? XD**

 **Guest: Yeahhh….this is clearly not smart…**

 **Blue wing: Sorry this is taking so long. I used to be able to update weekly, but I've been really busy. But I promise this story will not be abandoned. Hope you continue to like this story!**

 **Cherrybomb: Thank you so much! You'll have to wait and see! Lol!**

 **Guest: Lol *rimshot* Thank you for your kind words! Glad you love it! That means a lot to me!**

 **Guest: I shall!**

 **Snowflake: Hope you like what's next!**

 **Foxxlight: Thank you so much! Glad you love it!**

 **Kikka: Hello there! OMG yes, it was SUCH a great episode! The season was honestly probably better than RoB and DoB as whole. Not that I didn't like RoB and DoB, but RTTE was quite an improvement in more ways than one, and "Maces and Talons, Part 2" was proof of it! Yeah I was surprised as well, but that's partly what inspired me to write this. Hopefully, it can hold us over until the new episodes start premiering again. Glad you're liking it so far! Hope you like what's next!**

 **ScoreLaine: Yeah, what happened with Hiccup being outsmarted by Viggo has been debated in the fandom in terms of IC or OOC, and honestly, I thought that it was very much IC. Up until this point, Hiccup thought he pretty much had all the answers. He had many successes so far with the Red Death, training dragons, Alvin, and so on. Then when Viggo comes along, he manages to manipulate Hiccup, and that can hurt someone's confidence pretty badly, which is why it makes me think that it's the perfect tie-in to HTTYD2 where Hiccup isn't confident that he will make a good Chief until he faces Drago. I'm glad I helped to clear that up! Hope you continue to enjoy it!**

 **Lightning and Death Itself218: I know right? I was shocked at the cliffhanger it ended on! Hopefully, this can tie us over until the new episodes are released! Glad you liked the first chapter and hope you continue to enjoy it!**

 **Flopy: We shall see what happens!**

 **Guest: Yay! Glad you enjoyed it! Hmm…we shall see how long! Needless to say, Astrid won't be happy when she does.**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to the** _ **How to Train Your Dragon**_ **franchise.**

* * *

Chapter 2

Dagur the Deranged, Chief of the Berserker Tribe, walked through the hallways of Viggo Grimborn's ship. One of the soldiers told him that Viggo and Ryker wished to speak to him, and it didn't take long to figure out what they wanted to speak about. It was about his little sister, Heather, the traitor to the Dragon Hunters. He had been ordered to supervise Heather's execution, but…he couldn't bring himself to let it happen. She might've been working with his own mortal enemy, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third to spy on them, but Ryker, for once, had a point when he told him that Viggo was his younger brother. Despite knowing that Heather betrayed him, she was still his sister. She was right as well. They were family…They shared the same blood, and Berserkers never turned on each other…no matter what.

So, he did what he needed to do. He released his sister and her pet Razorwhip, but of course, he could never risk Viggo knowing that. There was no telling what he would do if he found out that Heather was alive, and that he released her. No, he wasn't afraid of Viggo, but unlike Hiccup, he valued the brotherly bond, especially the one he shared with Heather. Viggo could never find out about his sister still being alive, so he straightened up, put on the best smirk he could muster up and knocked on the door to Viggo's quarters.

"Enter!" a voice said on the other side of the door.

With that, Dagur opened the door and walked in only to see Viggo himself sitting at his desk with Ryker standing next to him. Both Grimborn brothers were looking right at him making the Berserker Chief feel slightly uneasy, but he did his best not to show it. He couldn't afford to…for both his and Heather's sakes.

"Dagur," Viggo said, "I'm so pleased you could join us."

"Right," Dagur simply said eyeing the leader of the Dragon Hunters, "so…what did you want to see me for?"

"Oh, nothing too important," Viggo said as he stood up and walked over to Dagur. "I only wanted a report regarding your treacherous sister. Did you do what I ordered you to do?"

The Berserker Chief's eyes darted away for a brief second as he immediately remembered his last interaction with his younger sister. He could still see the fear in her eyes when he knocked out the two soldiers, who were leading her to what would be her execution claiming that he no longer cared what Viggo said.

" _Dagur, please," she begged._

 _He stole the axe from the unconscious guard and raised it above his head while keeping his eyes on the teenager in front of him._

" _Don't!" Heather shouted._

 _Dagur brought the axe down, but the weapon never touched her body. Instead, the axe broke the shackles on her wrists freeing her. When Heather realized what happened, there was nothing but silence between the two children of Oswald the Agreeable. The Berserker Chief then let out a whistle signaling Heather's dragon, Windshear to emerge from the tunnels._

" _Windshear! You're okay!" she shouted as the dragon nuzzled her._

 _And with one last look over his shoulder, Dagur glared at Heather silently telling her to leave while she still could and walked away feeling Heather's heartbroken yet grateful stare from behind._

Dagur smirked at the Dragon Hunters' leader. "Oh, Heather the _Traitor_?" he asked placing his hands on his hips. "Oh, don't worry, Viggo. I don't think she'll be a nuisance to us anymore. All we'll have to worry about right now is Hiccup…and his Greek chorus." He noticed Ryker raising his eyebrows out of the corner of his eye, but he chose to ignore it focusing on Viggo.

Viggo smiled at Dagur. "Excellent," he said. "Knowing that we are finally rid of the wrong-doer will make all of our lives that much easier, especially now when we've gotten the Dragon Eye. I'm so pleased that at least _one_ of Oswald the Agreeable's children is trustworthy."

It took everything in Dagur's power not to lash out at Viggo or to go…well…berserk. Attacking Viggo especially in front of Ryker would not end will for him. He and Savage secretly agreed not too long ago to go ahead with their plan to take down the Dragon Hunters from the inside despite Heather's unexpected betrayal. If he did anything to jeopardize their chances of getting back the Dragon Eye, then the Berserkers would surely be the laughing stock of the Archipelago, which was the last thing he wanted.

"Yeah, well," Dagur tried to say, "hopefully, you're right."

"I can assure you that I am, Dagur," Viggo replied. "No need to worry. The Dragon Hunters and the Berserkers shall continue with their mission to slaughter and sell every single dragon we find without the threat of a spy in our midst."

"However, that still leaves Hiccup and his Dragon Riders," Ryker finally said.

"Yes, big brother, I agree," Viggo said as he turned around and went back to his desk. "Hiccup must be working on his parry as we speak. If I'm right, and I usually am, he and those friends of his will try to avenge their spy and come after us and the Dragon Eye."

"Well, duh!" Dagur said rolling his eyes. "Of course, he will. He's _Hic_ -cup, the do-gooder dragon rider with a plasma-blasting Night Fury. He—"

"Dagur, I'm sorry," Viggo interrupted, "but this discussion is now strictly between my big brother and me. I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I only asked you here to give me a report on the Traitor's whereabouts, and now it's time for you to go."

"Wait…what?" Dagur asked raising an eyebrow. "You _just_ said _I_ was trustworthy. I can help with taking out Hiccup."

"If you can help with taking out the future Chief of Berk," Viggo began resting his head on his hands, "then how is it that you were never able to take out those Dragon Riders before?"

"Hey!" Dagur tried to say.

"Dagur, I told you before, and I'll tell you again," the leader of the Dragon Hunters interrupted again, "stop thinking and just do what you are told. You may be a great alley on the battlefield, but you clearly have no brains. Your poor skills in Maces and Talons prove that. Therefore, you must leave. Make sure the crew stays on course for our next stop. Notify me when we arrive."

The Berserker Chief growled under his breath as he glared at Viggo for a few moments before silently deciding that it was best to just do what he was told. Without another word or protest, Dagur quickly turned around and stomped out of Viggo's quarters not even flinching when the door was slammed behind him.

"Hmm, he did have a valid point," Ryker finally said as soon as he and his little brother were alone. "You say he's trustworthy, yet you throw him out of the room when we need to plan our next move."

"It's just as I said, big brother," Viggo replied. "Dagur may be a valuable asset on the battlefield, but when it comes to using his brain, he's useless. Now that we have the Dragon Eye, we can't afford to lose it to Hiccup now."

Ryker nodded realizing that his little brother was in fact right. The older Grimborn brother had been working with Oswald the Agreeable's children for quite a while now, and despite the fact that Heather was a spy, she proved to be smarter than her older brother. Yes, Dagur had more interactions with the Dragon Riders than his sister did, but any ideas he had were always proven to be useless as Hiccup and his friends thwarted them in the end. They couldn't afford to risk losing the Dragon Eye after everything they went through to get it back, especially after his brother managed to unlock the object with the Flightmare's mist.

"Well, if we're so worried about Hiccup getting the thing back," the older Grimborn brother finally spoke, "then why don't we just turn around, go to Dragon's Edge, and kill them and their dragons right now? We can easily nip this in the bud quickly and easily."

Viggo stared at him for a few seconds before bursting into a laughing fit. It was so random and unexpected from someone like Viggo that Ryker and the guards present in the room simply stared at each other feeling uncomfortable. It only lasted a few more seconds before Viggo managed to compose himself again.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, big brother," he said wiping his eyes and taking a few deep breaths. "Thor may not have blessed you with a brain, but he's certainly blessed you with a sense of humor." He took a few more moments to compose himself, but he failed to see the glare on Ryker's face. He then finally looked up at his brother. "Honestly, do you think that is the best route to take at this point?"

"Well, yes, I do, little brother," Ryker replied. "We were just saying that Hiccup Haddock the Third and his Dragon Riders are the only problem we have to worry about now. Why not just deal with it now and move on with our lives?"

"Ryker, we can't just turn around and eliminate Hiccup and his…Greek chorus…as Dagur put it," Viggo replied. "No, no, to kill Hiccup Haddock would be to end this game far too soon, and it would be just awful to do that, especially when the game has just begun."

Ryker raised an eyebrow at his younger brother, and as much as he hated to admit it, he was slightly concerned that his brother still kept referring to this whole endeavor as a game. While dealing with the Dragon Riders had been enjoyable to say the least, especially the time when they captured four of them and their dragons, he didn't see it as a simple game like Maces and Talons. Dragon hunting was already serious business, but the heir of Berk and his Night Fury had begun to make it harder. How could Viggo just see such a successful business as a game?

"Why go through the trouble?" the older Grimborn brother asked. "This is a very big risk. Hiccup could show up at any time to take the Dragon Eye. We both know that he will."

Viggo rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose clearly getting tired of these endless questions from his brawny brother. "Let me ask you this, brother. Do you honestly think that Hiccup really is a risk to our business?"

Ryker's eyes darted in different directions as he tried to figure out the best answer. Whether he answered yes or no, there was no telling how Viggo would respond. "Well…uh…h-he does have a Night Fury…his friends and their dragons," he finally said as his heart pounded in fear. "Not to mention that he's the son of a Chief. He could easily summon his village to attack us."

"And I could easily summon our whole tribe for a counterattack along with the Berserkers," Viggo replied bluntly. "Don't you see, big brother?" He stood up and walked over to his older brother. "It doesn't matter what Hiccup does. You saw what happened when he tried to outsmart me. I ended up stealing the Dragon Eye right from under his nose. No matter what he does, I know his every move…the way he thinks, and it just makes the hunt that much more exciting. Why take the fun out of it?"

The older Grimborn brother still didn't fully understand the younger one's reasons for wanting to keep Hiccup alive. However, he knew better than to question Viggo's methods at this point. All he could do was hope that the leader of the Dragon Hunters knew what he was doing.

* * *

Heather, the sister of Chief Dagur of the Berserkers, felt the wind brush against her cheeks as she and Windshear flew across the night sky for what seemed like hours. Everything happened far too fast, and now it seemed like everything slowed down at last. She kept looking over her shoulder thinking that someone was following her. Being on your own for three years did that to you, especially when you made so many enemies…and in a weird way…friends.

She figured that Hiccup and Astrid would be the first of the Dragon Riders to follow her…maybe to convince her to come back to the Edge with them, but they didn't… None of them did…even Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins. Maybe, they didn't know she left, or maybe they didn't want to follow her. Although, Heather had a feeling from that awful, ear-piercing scream from Hiccup that they were too focused on what happened with Viggo.

There was no doubt that Viggo stole the Dragon Eye from Hiccup. How? She wasn't sure, but it wasn't hard to figure out that he did it. The Dragon Eye was probably in Viggo's possession at this very moment, and it was because of her. If she hadn't flown back to Viggo's ship when he tricked her into bringing him to her friends, Hiccup would probably still have the Dragon Eye in his hands and probably would have figured out the best place to hide it. Thanks to her foolishness, the Dragon Hunters now had the tool that they needed to hunt and kill more dragons than ever.

Heather's body filled with determination as she realized that she couldn't allow that to happen. She had to stop Viggo and to retrieve the Dragon Eye before more damage was done. However, when she was about to command Windshear to turn back, she realized that now that she was labeled a traitor by Viggo and the Dragon Hunters, it was going to be a lot harder to get back in their good graces, especially when she was clearly supposed to be dead.

She had a feeling what was supposed to happen when Dagur suddenly turned around and released her and Windshear. Not to mention that she would get Dagur into huge trouble with Viggo as the Berserker Chief was supposed to oversee her execution. She even hoped that Dagur made sure those two guards stayed behind so that they could never rat him out, but that was beside the point.

While Heather couldn't get close to the Dragon Hunter anymore, there was one other group she could work closely with…the _Dragon Riders_. Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and their dragons…they could all work together to take down Viggo and to retrieve the Dragon Eye. They were her friends, and despite everything she had done to them in the past and who she was, they were still willing to have her back just as she was willing to do the same for them. Together with Windshear, they could be the perfect team again. If they could take down Alvin the Treacherous, they could go up against Viggo Grimborn. With that, she turned her dragon around, and the two of them flew toward Dragon's Edge.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Alrighty! Looks like we have another cliffhanger on our hands! That's all for Chapter 2, folks! Stay tuned for CHAPTER 3! Don't forget to leave some reviews! Thanks a lot guys!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Hello, hello, everyone! Guess what? I'm back with Chapter 3! Sorry, it took me longer than the last time as school got crazy toward the end! I'm hoping to get a majority of this finished before RTTE comes back with Season 3! Now before we get to the chapter, REVIEW REPLIES!

 **Toothless lover: Lol! Don't worry! It's here! Sorry for taking so long! I try to update as often as I can! Glad you like the story so far! Hope you continue to enjoy it!**

 **Guest: Thanks so much! Oh yeah thanks for catching the "little brother" and "big brother" bit. I'll keep an eye out for that next time!**

 **Kikka: Thanks so much! I'm glad you like it! Well, we'll just have to see what happens with Dagur, but don't worry he always has something up his sleeve! And be prepared for some intense Hiccup/Viggo moments! They will come!**

 **Black wing: I'm glad you're liking the story, and I'm sorry if my chapters are a little on the short side. The thing is that I don't have that much time to write and I want to get as much as I can out to you guys and I also want to make the story as long as I can. I will probably try to make the chapters longer in the future, but I also try to update what I have in a timely manner. I really do hope you continue to like the rest of the story!**

 **Cherrybomb: YOU'RE WELCOME!**

 **MMM: You'll have to wait and see what happens!**

 **BIGBRO: LOL!**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to the _How to Train Your Dragon_ franchise!**

* * *

Chapter 3

The leader of the Dragon Riders squinted his eyes in the dark of the night as he flew on his loyal Night Fury. The determination never left his face since they left the Edge to find Viggo because at this point, Hiccup was focused on two objectives: to find the Dragon Hunters and to get back the Dragon Eye, and the one place to start was their base. Astrid told him that Viggo was long gone, so it was highly likely that he wouldn't return if he wanted to evade Hiccup and the Dragon Riders for a while, especially when they got what they wanted. This base was surely to be completely abandoned by now, and they had plenty of time to clear out as the gang returned to the Dragon's Edge in shame.

Hiccup was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts when he felt Toothless tense up under him. The Heir of Berk furrowed his eyebrows in concern. "What is it, bud?" he asked. "Do you see something?"

Toothless crooned as he gestured to what was in front of them. His rider looked up and widened his eyes as he saw what his best friend was looking at. It was the Dragon Hunters' island…Viggo Grimborn's base! The determination returned to Hiccup's face in just a matter of seconds.

"Let's go, bud!" Hiccup said to Toothless. "There must be something in that base that can help us get the Dragon Eye back!"

The Night Fury wasted no time in obeying his rider's command and flapped his wings harder surging them forward toward the island. Within minutes, Hiccup and Toothless swooped down from the sky and landed on the stonewall that guarded the center of the island. It was still dark out, but that didn't stop Toothless from using his echolocation to sense any sort of presence within the camp. The Night Fury stopped to listen for any signs of the Hunters, Viggo, Ryker, or Dagur for a minute, and when he realized that there was no sign of their enemies within the base, he turned to his rider crooning and gesturing to the camp down below. Hiccup thankfully understood as he smirked and nodded at Toothless before he gave the command to go down to the base, where Viggo's tent still stood.

Toothless obeyed his rider's command and jumped off the wall down to the earth below landing near the tent that seemed to be the largest out of the others. Hiccup looked around surveying the camp and double-checking for any signs of activity. It wasn't that he didn't believe Toothless' echolocation ability. He only wanted to exercise caution in every way possible now that he knew that Viggo could outsmart him in some way, shape, or form. There was no telling what Viggo had waiting for him and Toothless. Nevertheless, they also couldn't just sit back and wait for the leader of the Dragon Hunters to make their next move.

"Okay, bud," he finally said as he dismounted Toothless, "let's check Viggo's tent." With that, he and Toothless walked through the flaps of the tent. The Heir of Berk and his Night Fury surveyed the dark tent expecting to walk right into an ambush.

When they didn't see anything or anyone jump out at them, Hiccup let out a small sign of relief but quickly tensed up again. The mission was far from over, and there was still plenty of work to do. "Let's take a look around, " said Hiccup. "If there's one thing I learned about Viggo, it's that he loves leaving me little clues to manipulate me. There is no way that this game of his is finished yet."

Toothless crooned in reply and went to sniff the ground and the air around them as Hiccup walked around studying every inch of the tent making sure not to miss anything that could be important. Although from the looks of it, it seemed like Astrid was right. Viggo really was long gone…without any trace as the tent seemed to be completely empty with the exception of a wooden desk in the middle, but he found that extremely hard to believe. The leader of the Dragon Hunters would not just call it quits, especially after gaining back the Dragon Eye. No, he wanted to keep playing his twisted version of Maces and Talons, but so many questions ran through Hiccup's head as he wracked his brain trying to figure out Viggo's next move. What was he going to do next? What was he planning next for Hiccup and the Dragon Riders now that he had the Dragon Eye? Was he going to try to get the Snow Wraith tooth they managed to get? Was he even still planning to go after the Dragon Riders or just continue hunting dragons like nothing ever happened?

However, so far…he couldn't come up with any plausible answers. The leader of the Dragon Riders let out a grunt of frustration as he pounded his fists on Viggo's desk startling Toothless in the process. The Night Fury quickly ran to his rider to comfort him and calm him down, but he stopped when he picked up a new scent coming from under the empty desk. So the curious Night Fury sniffed the air briefly before crouching down on his legs and looking under the desk only to see a rolled up parchment, so he grabbed it with his toothless gums from the binds to the desk and turned to Hiccup holding it up to him.

Hiccup snapped out of his frustration once he felt something nudge his hand, so he looked up only to see his best friend holding the parchment to him waiting for him to take it. "What do you have there, bud?" he asked. The future Chief took the object from his dragon's mouth ignoring the saliva on the top and unrolled the parchment to get a better look. He widened his eyes once he realized what it was. "It's a map…" he breathed, "a map of the Dragon Hunters' hunting and trading routes."

Both the Night Fury and his rider studied the map very carefully. The map contained many islands and land masses Hiccup had yet to recognize and some that he and his comrades had traveled to, and like Hiccup said, it was practically covered in various dotted lines and arrows, clearly representing the Hunters' routes. While the future Chief was ecstatic to have a clue as to where Viggo was going, something still didn't feel right. Why was this map here?

"This doesn't make sense, bud," he finally said aloud. "Why would Viggo and Ryker leave this behind? How could they just leave this map behind? This map is how they keep track of their hunting and trading to maintain the business."

Toothless sniffed the parchment with suspicious eyes and growled under his breath agreeing with Hiccup. This was the same human who managed to trick both him and Hiccup not too long ago that night. Would he make such a simple mistake and leave the map of the Dragon Hunting business behind in a place where it could be easily accessed? The Night Fury looked at his rider, and he could quickly tell that Hiccup was thinking the exact same thing.

"There's no way Viggo left this by accident," he finally said thinking back to when he, Astrid, and Toothless found the Maces and Talons game on the abandoned ship earlier that day. The future Chief of Berk dug into his pocket and took out the Viking King piece from the Maces and Talons board staring at it and then the map on the desk. "His game didn't end with him taking the Dragon Eye, bud. He knows that I'm going to try to get it back somehow. He wanted to find this map, so that I can track him down for Round 2. He really meant it when he said that he hoped that we would…compete again. This battle with the Dragon Hunters is far from over."

Toothless growled at the map as if he was looking at the Grimborn brothers themselves knowing what his rider was implying. If this battle was far from over, then it was up to him and Hiccup to end it for good and to get the Dragon Eye back. These humans were responsible for those dragon bones on the Reaper and for making Hiccup scream into the night in frustration. They needed to be stopped before they could do any more damage.

Hiccup smirked at his dragon watching him staring intently at the map. "I take it that you agree with me and that you want to go after them right now, right?" he asked casually.

The Night Fury looked at the human smirking in return.

"Excellent," Hiccup said before turning back to the map. "Now, let's see. They had a few hours to make a head start on their ship, so we should be able to catch up to them by dawn. At least, Viggo would obviously want us to catch up to them, so there's no doubt that he will make this seem easy." The future Chief traced his finger along the dotted lines of the map to get a better look at the best route to follow. It took a few minutes, but he finally found one that seemed to stand out among the others.

"Hmm, this looks like a good route to take," Hiccup said aloud. The specific route started on what looked to be the back of Viggo's island and went directly to another island southwest of the starting game. Based on what he saw on the map, it looked like the first stop in their hunting route, which made sense as to why they would go to this particular island first, so that was where he and Toothless were going.

"Well, there's no point in wasting any more time," he finally said as he rolled the map up and walked out of the tent with Toothless in tow. "We need to leave now, bud, if we want to catch up to Viggo before daybreak and grab the Dragon Eye."

Toothless crooned in agreement as he walked beside his rider both with determination splashed onto their faces. With that said, he crouched down slightly allowing Hiccup to mount him, and as soon as Hiccup's prosthetic leg clicked into place in the stirrup, the Night Fury took off into the night sky.

"This is it, bud," Hiccup said as they reached the sky. "There really is no margin for error this time. We have to get that Dragon Eye back and bring Viggo down for good. We can't allow anymore dragons to be slaughtered and sold." He looked at the Viking King piece in his hand with a glare. If it was a game that Viggo wanted, that was what he was going to get.

* * *

Lars I groaned as he slowly opened his eyes feeling an awful headache coming on. It was pretty obvious that he was knocked out, but he wasn't sure as to what made him fall into unconsciousness. He blinked his eyes a few times to compose himself, and when he did, he was able to take in his surroundings only to realize that he was still in the caves under the island of the Dragon Hunters. He remembered walking through the tunnels of the caves with Ake and the Berserker Chief Dagur under Viggo's orders to execute the traitor, Heather, Dagur's sister, but then everything went black. He then sat up and rubbed his head to relieve the pain. Then he turned to his left and saw his comrade Ake lying on the floor unconscious. The soldier pounded his comrade in his chest.

"Wake up, you fool!" he shouted.

Ake quickly awakened coming out of his unconsciousness. "What happened?!" he shouted looking around to take in his surroundings.

"What do you think happened?!" Lars retorted angrily as he stood up. "We were knocked out!" He quickly looked around. "And the Traitor escaped!"

Ake looked around again and realized that Lars was right. The Traitor, Heather was nowhere to be seen in the torch-lit cave, and it could only mean that she really did escape. However, something nagged at Ake in the stomach. Something didn't seem right. There was no doubt that Heather managed to escape, but the question that remained was…how?

"This doesn't seem right," he finally said. "The girl was handcuffed and was standing right in front of us. How could she possibly have knocked us out from behind?"

It was Lars' turn to realize that Ake was right. He remembered Heather being directly in front of them and her older brother Dagur. Not to mention that she was trapped in metal handcuffs. There was no way that she could…He stopped when realization struck him in the face. Heather might not have knocked him and Ake out, but…someone else did. That was when he remembered. Dagur at first led them to the spot where Viggo ordered them to execute Heather, but then…he stopped and let them go first. Then right after they realized that they weren't where they were supposed to be to execute the Traitor, everything went black…when Dagur was right behind them. It didn't take too long to figure out what happened.

"Of course, Dagur was the one who knocked us out!" Lars finally said. "He knocked us out and probably released the Traitor!"

"Good Thor!" Ake shouted. "Dagur betrayed Viggo! We must find him and tell him right now!" He was about to run out of the tunnels when Lars quickly stopped him.

"Wait, my friend," he said. "We can't run and tell Viggo! What do you think he'll say when we basically tell him that we let the girl escape and that we didn't apprehend her treacherous brother?"

Ake widened his eyes as he thought about what his comrade just said. Viggo was someone no one would dare to mess with. Everyone was afraid of him, especially Ryker, and there was a good reason to be afraid of him. Anything that was not as he wanted was dealt with brute force and violence. If some hides were out of place or a specific dragon was not caught, then the person who was to blame or caught was dealt with effective immediately and in the cruelest way possible. Sometimes, one could tell how awful the punishment was just from the screams that came from the culprit.

"You're right," he finally said. "Viggo will surely have our heads for this. What do we do? We can't face him after what happened!"

Lars' face filled with determination as an idea came to him. "We must find the Traitor ourselves and deliver her to Viggo. He will surely forgive us if we deliver her to him."

Ake smirked at his comrade's suggestion as he considered her. Yes, Viggo ordered them to put that girl to death, but if they could bring the girl to him and expose her brother, then Viggo would surely reward them and execute both Dagur and Heather at the same time.

"Of course, kill two birds with one stone," Ake said.

Lars nodded smirking at the fact that his brother-in-arms caught onto what he was implying. "Let's find a ship and get going," he said. "We must not come back until we have the traitor in our clutches."

* * *

The Berserker Chief glared as he stared at the ocean in front of him on Viggo's ship. No one dared to say a word to Dagur after the leader of the Dragon Hunters basically booted him out of the room not allowing him to have a say in planning their next move in regards to Hiccup and his Dragon Riders. For now, it was silently agreed amongst the soldiers that they would not speak to the brother of the Traitor unless they were spoken to. However, after an hour of staring at the ocean under the night sky, Savage decided that the silence was enough for him.

"Uh, sir, I've been thinking—" he began.

Dagur sighed cutting him off. "What is it now, Savage?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"Well," Savage began nervously, "being that your sister turned out to be a traitor, I was wondering if we should still go ahead with our—"

He was cut off when Dagur suddenly placed his hand on his mouth preventing from speaking any further.

"How about you do a little more thinking before you speak, you idiot?" Dagur retorted.

Savage widened his eyes and quickly looked around realizing that Viggo's soldiers were almost within earshot, and that certainly would not end very well. He then nodded apologetically to Dagur.

"To answer your question," Dagur whispered, "everything is on hold until Viggo becomes more trusting with us. As far as he is concerned, right now, I might betray him like my sister, which pretty much ruins the element of surprise."

Savage furrowed his eyebrows together and nodded firmly confirming that he understood. No plans to overthrow Viggo until he trusted Dagur more!

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Well that was Chapter 3, folks! Hope you all enjoyed it! Things should start to pick up more in the next chapter! So stay tuned for CHAPTER 4! Until then, don't forget to leave a review! Thanks again, guys!


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:** *peeks out from behind* Uhh… *laughs nervously* Hey, guys! I'm back, and I have CHAPTER 4! First, I just want to say that I am so….SO…sorry for not having updated in a long while. I feel so bad for leaving you guys hanging. School and life got pretty crazy, and I found myself with a bit of writer's block, especially after the third season of RTTE came out. I wanted to make sure that my story would be a good bridge between Season 2 and Season 3, so I'm working as hard as I can to pull that off. Plus, I'm also working on my ROTG fanfic as well and am planning on ANOTHER fanfic. Nevertheless, I found the drive again, and I am back! I promise you, this story will NEVER be abandoned. So, before we move onto Chapter 4, REVIEW REPLIES!

 **Guest: You're very welcome! Hope you like what's next!**

 **Kikka: Let's hope Hiccup will be smart enough about this! You'll have to wait and see!**

 **Izi Wilson: Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it! I hope you continue to like it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything related to the** _ **How to Train Your Dragon**_ **franchise!**

* * *

Chapter 4

The son of Stoick the Vast rubbed his eyes furiously trying with all his might to stay awake as the sun began to peak above the horizon. He and Toothless had been flying all night, and it was clear that both boy and dragon needed some sleep. However, they couldn't afford to stop for a rest. Hiccup had reiterated over and over again that they needed to track down Viggo and Ryker Grimborn and to take back the Dragon Eye. He looked down at the map again to make sure that they were on the right track following the directions, and somewhere deep down in his stomach, he knew that this was most certainly not the best idea he had come up with. He wasn't sure if any of his ideas were good ideas anymore…not after what happened with Viggo.

The future Chief of Berk growled under his breath as he shook his head ridding himself of those thoughts. He and Toothless had a mission, and they needed to be ready for anything.

"Keep going, Toothless," he finally said aloud to the Night Fury. "Viggo's ship should be coming up any minute now. Let's fly low in the fog down below so that no one sees us."

The Night Fury crooned in agreement and dove down into the fog bank rolling over the ocean. Soon enough, as they flew closer, the ship appeared out of the thick fog. It didn't take long for them to see that the ship was anchored to the ocean floor and that they were facing the stern, which made Hiccup smirk. It would be harder for them to be spotted by the Hunters and give them some more time to sneak aboard. Toothless seemed to have had the same idea because with great swiftness he used his claws to latch onto the boat's rear.

Both the future Chief and the Night Fury paused and stayed absolutely still listening and watching for any signs indicating that they were seen. After a brief moment, Hiccup breathed a quick sigh of relief. They hadn't been spotted, but they still needed to get inside. Plus, if this ship was similar to the other Dragon Hunter ships…there was bound to be more trouble afoot. They needed to proceed with great caution.

Hiccup's determined glare returned to his freckled face. "Okay, bud," he whispered, "let's check to see if the coast is clear."

Toothless crooned a reply and slowly but surely moved up to the deck of the ship. Thankfully, Night Furies were stealthy in nature as Toothless proceeded without a single disturbance. He was leaving claw marks in the wood, sure, but by the time those would be discovered, Hiccup figured, they would be on their way back to the Edge…with the Dragon Eye.

Hiccup was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts when Toothless arrived onto the ship's deck, and what they saw made them pause in confusion and shock. The ship's deck was completely empty. No Hunters, no Berserkers, no Savage, no Ryker, and most importantly…no Viggo. It was almost as if the ship was abandoned. Perhaps, it was another one of Viggo's tricks to trap them…or maybe to distract them while he got away, but…that was impossible. Viggo had to have had time to escape on only one ship the night before. How could they change ships so quickly or even at all?

Nevertheless, the leader of the Dragon Riders hopped off the Night Fury, but before doing anything else, he paused…waiting for any signs of an ambush. However, again, nothing happened. No one jumped out to grab him or Toothless, and it was still all nothing but absolute quiet with the creaking sound from the ship as the only sound they heard. Hiccup refused to relax and decided to continue the mission. He motioned for Toothless to follow him below deck to find Viggo's quarters.

"We got to be extra careful, bud," he finally said to his best friend as they began to proceed down the dark hallway. "This ship could have booby traps just like the Reaper."

Toothless crooned in agreement as he followed the human in front of him.

The hallway was too dark to see anything, so Hiccup grabbed a stick from its perch on the wall and held it up to Toothless, who fired a small purple blast from his mouth to light the torch. Hiccup quickly thanked Toothless and proceeded to lead him down the hallway. Much like the Reaper and the other Dragon Hunter ships he and the other riders had been on the past couple months, this hallway seemed to go on forever and ever, especially when he and Toothless were moving at a slow pace to avoid triggering those potential booby traps.

Hiccup was so focused on what was ahead of him that he failed to see what was below him. He was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts when he felt his prosthetic leg shift downward into the wooden floor. Within seconds, an alarm rang throughout the ship, and it did not take them long to figure out what was coming next.

"TOOTHLESS, RUN FOR IT!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as he held up his Gronkle iron shield and ran to the end of the hallway.

As soon as they took off running, darts were fired from all directions, but thankfully, the passage was big enough for Toothless to run next to Hiccup, which made it easier to protect the Night Fury.

"KEEP GOING, TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup shouted as they continued to run. "KEEP GOING!"

Within seconds, the pair saw the door at the end of the hall, and with one last boost of energy and determination, they made it to the door that supposedly led to Viggo's quarters. As soon as they made it to the door, the darts finally stopped flying, and all was quiet on the ship again. Hiccup still couldn't figure out if that was good or bad, but it didn't matter right now. Viggo was clearly on the other side of that door…waiting for him.

 _This is it,_ he thought to himself. _We got him now. We_ have _to get the Dragon Eye back…no matter what._

The future Chief of Berk took a deep breath and took a few steps back with his shield ready, and then he turned to Toothless smirking. "Okay, bud," he said aloud, "you know what to do. It's time for Viggo to know that we're here and ready to take that Dragon Eye back."

Toothless smirked at his rider in return before turning his attention back to the door growling at it as if it were Viggo himself standing in front of him. He opened his mouth feeling the heat slowly building up in the back of his throat. A purple glow slowly emerged from his mouth, and then without a second thought, he fired a plasma blast right at the wooden door blowing it to smithereens in front of him and Hiccup.

"ALRIGHT, VIGGO!" Hiccup shouted as he ran in ahead of Toothless. "Hand over the Dragon Eye, or—" He stopped in mid-sentence when he got a better look at the room, and his jaw dropped when he saw that it was…completely empty. Neither Viggo nor Ryker were in the room.

* * *

Back on the Edge, Astrid was the first out of the Riders to arise for the day. That was nothing new to any of them, specifically Tuffnut after the Hunters attempted to attack their base. The blonde Viking was always the first to arise to do some training, but unfortunately, she had no time to train today because, as Hiccup ordered the night before, they were to assemble with their dragons in the clubhouse to regroup after their devastating loss to Viggo Grimborn and the Dragon Hunters.

As Astrid stepped out of her hut, she glanced over at the hut that belonged to one particular rider and his Night Fury. Astrid released a sad sigh thinking about how Hiccup looked the night before. She had never seen him look so defeated in all the years she had known him. True, he used to go through so many failed attempts to fend off the dragons during those raids, but this…this seemed to really knock him for a loop. She wanted to go to his hut to see if he was awake, but decided against it. He probably just wanted to get down to business at this meeting, and that's what they were going to do.

So, after she got Stormfly out of her pen in the stables, the girl and her dragon went to the clubhouse and waited for the other riders. Fishlegs and Meatlug arrived on time with no problems, so Astrid didn't need to worry about them. It was Snotlout and the twins she somewhat worried about mostly because she didn't feel like chasing them down to bring them here. However, Snotlout and the twins actually arrived on time with their dragons clearly ready to take the next course of action.

"Wow, I'm impressed," Fishlegs said as he sat on top of Meatlug. "You three are actually on time."

"Of course, we are," Snotlout said with great determination. "Viggo is SO going down, and Snotfang," he gestured to himself and Hookfang, "will make sure of it!"

"That's right," Ruffnut added with the same determination, "and…" she paused, "Nut…Belch…Barf…? Uh…WE…" she gestured to her brother, their dragon, and herself, "will make DOUBLE sure of it!"

"And I've got some ideas, Astrid," Tuffnut said to the other blonde Viking. "My mind has been blessed by Loki himself and was racing all night last night!"

"I'm sure you do, Tuff," Astrid said smiling as she held up her hands to calm him down, "but we still need to wait for Hiccup and Toothless."

"Wait, they're not here yet?" Snotlout asked as he and Hookfang looked around the clubhouse only to see that Astrid was right. Hiccup and Toothless weren't present at the moment."

"Really?" Fishlegs added with sarcasm dripping in his voice. "You just noticed that?"

"NO! I—" Snotlout paused trying to figure out what to say next, but unfortunately, he couldn't think of a good comeback. Thus, he crossed his arms and looked away glaring. "Shut up, Fishlegs…" he added under his breath.

"Weird," Ruffnut said raising an eyebrow. The female Thorston twin found it strange that their leader wasn't the first one to come here this morning, especially when he was the one who wanted them to meet at the clubhouse.

"Well, he did take what happened with Viggo last night pretty hard," Fishlegs interjected. "He probably wanted some time to himself for a bit." He didn't want to admit it, but he was starting to get worried about Hiccup's absence, _especially_ after what happened last night. However, he also knew that it was too early to panic right now. They had to give their leader the benefit of a doubt.

"Come on, Fishlegs," Snotlout said turning back to the Viking sitting on the Gronkle. "We all know that's not the Princess Outpost Hiccup we've had to put up with for the past couple months. He would've been here with Astrid before the rest of us ready to plan our next move."

As much as Astrid herself hated to admit it, Snotlout actually did have a point. She figured that the loss against Viggo would've been enough to drive Hiccup to want to be here to regroup. The sun was slowly peaking over the horizon, and he was already late judging by the fact that Snotlout and the twins were here before him. So far, she did _not_ like what she was seeing, but then she finally remembered the daily schedule they planned together when they first built this base.

"You know…" Astrid began, "it _is_ his turn for guard duty today. Maybe that's where he is. Knowing him, he probably wanted to make sure that Viggo didn't try anything last night."

"Yeah, that sounds like something he would do," Fishlegs replied.

"I'm going to go get him," Astrid said as she patted Stormfly on the side silently telling her to fly. "Stay here!" Without any hesitation, the Deadly Nadder took off into the sky with her rider on her back leaving the others behind.

Astrid first decided to check Hiccup's hut. Based on what she and the other riders had talked about, it sounded like no one saw Hiccup even leave his hut with or without Toothless this morning, so to be extra sure before chasing him down all over the island, she wanted to see if there was a possibility of him still being on the Edge. Plus, if Toothless were to be found in the hut, it would mean that the future Chief didn't leave the island and was most likely off in the woods by himself. Within minutes, Stormfly landed outside Hiccup and Toothless' hut allowing Astrid to jump off her back.

"Come on, girl," she said to her dragon, "let's check out the hut first." She quickly threw the door open and ran inside frantically looking for their leader. "Hiccup? Hiccup, are you in here?"

No answer. Astrid was slowly becoming more concerned, so she tried again.

"Hiccup? Toothless?" she called out again as Stormfly sniffed the air around them from behind.

No answer came again, so she climbed up the ladder that led to where the boys usually slept. When she finally got to the top, she gasped when she saw that the room was completely empty.

"Oh, no…" she mumbled under her breath. With great concern and urgency, she quickly climbed down the ladder and ran over to her dragon jumping onto her back. "Hiccup, you better be on guard duty, or so help me Odin…"

* * *

Hiccup stared at the empty room in front of him as his jaw dropped to the ground. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. All he was staring at was a dark…empty room…with no signs of the leader of the Dragon Hunters. Somehow, in his state of shock, he even realized that that was why there were no guards when they first found this ship. Viggo Grimborn and the Dragon Hunters managed to outsmart him yet again.

"No…" he said tightening his grip on the torch as he dropped to his knees. "No…no…NO!" he added banging his free fist on the wooden floor. "NOT AGAIN!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:** I know, I'm evil! *cue evil laughter* Lol! Just when I finally come back, I leave you with a cliffhanger! So, where do you guys think Viggo is? Can Hiccup find him? Hmm…very interesting! Well, I could tell you, but then that would be spoilers! Lol! Anyway, that was CHAPTER 4 for you guys! I really hope you liked it, and once again, I apologize for taking a long time. I'm going to try to get back into a routine of updating every other week or couple weeks. It depends on my schedule, but anyway, thanks so much for understanding! Stay tuned for CHAPTER 5! And don't forget to leave a review! Thanks again, guys!


End file.
